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Microsoft Bringing SSH to Windows

posted by cmn32480 on Thursday June 04 2015, @02:41PM   
from the we-will-still-use-putty dept.

AndyTheAbsurd writes:

SSH, or secure shell, is the mainstay of remote access and administration in the Linux world, and the lack of any straightforward equivalent has always been an awkward feature of the Windows world. While there are various third-party options, Windows lacks both a native SSH client, for connecting to Linux machines, and it lacks an SSH server, to support inbound connections from Linux machines.

The PowerShell team announced that this is going to change: Microsoft is going to work with and contribute to OpenSSH, the de facto standard SSH implementation in the Unix world, to bring its SSH client and server to Windows.

Article at Ars Technica

Possible plot twist: Is this newfound support for the SSH protocol and the OpenSSH project actually a new "in" for the NSA to sneak a new backdoor into the protocol?

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Original Submission

• Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Thursday June 04 2015, @06:11PM

  by EvilSS (1456) on Thursday June 04 2015, @06:11PM (#192206)

  Yes, but that would only affect Windows users, not the OpenSSH project itself. If MS is in the NSA pocket like the OP and Editor implied, what's the point? They could already compromise ANY SSH client running on Windows if they can own the OS itself. If I own the input, hardware, display, memory, network, and storage stacks in the OS, you can't do anything with software I can't see anyway.

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• Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard (Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 04 2015, @06:34PM

  by frojack (1554) on Thursday June 04 2015, @06:34PM (#192218) Journal

  Giving Microsoft the (historically unwarranted) benefit of the doubt.....

  When every windows machine has powershell acting as the endpoint of an inward ssh connection, the juiciness of the target does become rather sweet. I suspect we are going to have to watch this implementation very closely for a while and pay close attention to inbound connection attempts.

  --
  No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.

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  • Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Thursday June 04 2015, @08:02PM

    by EvilSS (1456) on Thursday June 04 2015, @08:02PM (#192250)

    There are plenty of ways to remote a windows machine already, including those built into powershell now. I imagine that this will also be something that has to be turned on, it won't be on by default.

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    • Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday June 04 2015, @08:51PM

      by Freeman (732) on Thursday June 04 2015, @08:51PM (#192267) Journal

      You're faith in Microsoft's default practices seems somewhat misplaced.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"

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      • Re:Exactly what I thought when I first heard (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Thursday June 04 2015, @11:31PM

        by EvilSS (1456) on Thursday June 04 2015, @11:31PM (#192302)

        Considering you have to manually install things like the telnet client (not server, client) on Windows these days I don't think they are misplaced at all.

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